But, the Senate must act by midnight tomorrow on the continuing resolution to keep the program in place because Senate rules delay a vote on the Defense Appropriations Act until Saturday, according to comments made yesterday by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., Senate majority leader.

David Sampson, president and chief executive officer of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America (PCI) urged Congress to extend the NFIP authorization.

"The expiration of the flood insurance program could have severe consequences on the economy and directly impact consumers," he said in a statement.

"We cannot afford to compound the economic challenges our nation already faces by allowing the NFIP to lapse," added Mr. Sampson.

"If NFIP expired, real-estate transactions in flood-prone areas could collapse, resulting in even more devastation for the housing market," he predicted.

Officials of the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies added that the period before Feb. 28 should be used by Congress to complete work on reforming and modernizing the program.

Its original authorization ran out last Sept. 30, and it has been extended several times since. One key problem is an inability of the Senate to agree to the provision proposed in House legislation to add wind damage coverage to the program.

Jimi Grande, NAMIC senior vice president of federal and political affairs, said that, "While it's important that the National Flood Insurance Program remain in place for the next two months, Congress needs to stop kicking the can down the road and start working on meaningful reforms."

"The problems facing the NFIP aren't going away," he said, "The program is financially unsustainable and failing to address that only makes the problem worse for homeowners, insurers and the American taxpayer."